


Can't

by Harper44



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst, F/M, college AU?, prompted, slovakia - Freeform, young adult au?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28720779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harper44/pseuds/Harper44
Summary: Link proposes to Christy while Rhett was in Slovakia and Rhett only finds out once he gets home. (Prompted)
Relationships: Christy Neal/Link Neal, Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	Can't

Rhett’s on the plane when he finally decides he’s going to do it. He’s going to tell Link the truth. This summer away from all of it has put everything into perspective and he’s more sure of himself now that he ever has been before. Sometimes it takes backing up to see the whole picture and he can only hope Link took a deep breath too while he was gone. 

All of this to say, Rhett wasn’t expecting Link’s girlfriend to be at the airport. Thankfully, he sees them from a ways away so he has time to compose himself before he’s upon the group, hugging his parents and Link with a grin on his face. His best friend looks the same as when he left him several weeks ago, if not a little more tan. Those blue eyes are bright and excited and Rhett has to swallow down his joy at Link being as happy to see him as he is to see Link. They’re making their way to baggage claim when his mother stops asking him questions and says,”Oh! Link, aren’t you going to tell him how it went?”

“Hm?” Rhett asks, watching Link’s face flush as he himself tries to remember if something big was supposed to happen. 

Link grins at Christy and she smiles back. “I proposed to Christy,” his arm tightens around her, “She said yes.” His eyes find Rhett’s and he sees that the happiness doesn’t reach there. 

Arming himself with his own smile, Rhett claps him on the shoulder a little too hard and says, “Congratulations, brother.” The term is foreign on his tongue. The only time they’ve called each other that was as a joke or in an exaggerated fashion, but it slips out in that moment as a wall builds itself in his mind. Brothers. Nothing else. He doesn’t miss Link’s hard swallow. 

It’s easy to keep the focus on Slovakia at dinner and Rhett tells all kinds of stories. He’s thankful Christy is there or else he and Link’s situation might have been more apparent. He can’t find himself blaming her for all of this. He wants to blame Link, but in the end it falls on him. 

They drop Link and Christy off and Rhett’s eyes stay on them embracing in Link’s driveway until they can’t be seen anymore. The car ride home is silent until they pull into their own driveway and his mother asks, “Did you know he was proposing, Rhett?”

Taking a deep breath, Rhett shrugs, unbuckling his seat belt, “He’d sort of mentioned it.”

“That seems strange for the two of you,” she comments. 

Rhett grabs his backpack, “He probably just forgot, mama, you know him.” He’s in the house before she can say anything else. 

As exhausted and jet-lagged as he is, Rhett can’t fall asleep. The confession he’d been preparing turns itself over and over in his mind relentlessly, mocking him. If his hair was any longer he’d be ripping it out. 

At something like two in the morning, Rhett caves and creeps down the stairs and outside to his truck. On the way to Link’s, he resolves not to confess, but he has to confront him. Though he brushed it off with his mother, it’s extremely unlike Link to not tell him about something like a proposal. If his best friend has changed more than he first thought over their time apart, he wants to know. 

Again out of character, Link’s bedroom light is on when he gets there. Rhett gets the key from under the arm of the far chair on the porch and lets himself in. He knows the creaks and groans of Link’s house just as well as he knows his own, so he moves silently up the stairs, letting out a sigh of relief once he’s generally out of earshot of Mama Sue’s bedroom. After taking a deep breath, he knocks softly on Link’s cracked door, pushing it open slowly. 

Wide blue eyes and tousled black hair assault him on the other side. Link doesn’t look too surprised to see him, so he must have heard him drive up. Taking off the headphones connected to his cassette player, Link asks, “What are you doing here?” 

Closing the door and leaning back against it, Rhett takes in the room he knows so well as if it’s the first time he’s seeing it, looking everywhere except Link for a little too long. Finally, he can’t help but look at his best friend, sitting cross-legged in his bed, shirtless and hesitant. The boy he’s given everything too. The man who’s engaged. “Rhett?”

“Why didn’t you tell me she was the one?”

It’s Link’s turn to look away now, rubbing the blanket between his fingers. “I guess I didn’t know for sure until you were gone.”

“Bullshit.” Link looks at him sharply for the sudden hostility. He opens his mouth to respond, but Rhett keeps going, “I’m not even saying it’s not possible, Link, but I just don’t believe you. Would you have married her while I was gone if my trip had been longer?” Rhett slides down against the door to sit on the floor, feeling defeated before they’ve even started. He has to remind himself that Link has no idea what he’d previously resolved to say and right now he’s planning on Link never, ever knowing. 

“I don’t know, Rhett! What do you want me to say to you? I proposed, okay, I did it!” Link whisper-yells, threading his fingers into his own hair. 

“Are you happy?” Rhett snarls, meaning for it to bite, but the way Link’s face falls makes him wonder sincerely. 

“I don’t know,” Link mutters, squeezing his eyes shut, “She’s great and I love her and she’ll be a wonderful wife.” 

Rhett stares at him, listening, each word driving a dagger deeper into his heart. “Do you want her?”

“Yes,” Link says, like it’s the only thing he’s sure of. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” asks Rhett, more gently now, “We’ve always talked about being part of this for each other.” 

“I had to… I had to do it, I had to do that part. Everything else after that is easy,” Link sighs.

Rhett laughs, half crazed, “You think marriage is easy?”

Link glares at him, “No, Rhett, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” The question is met with silence. “I think I know. Once you proposed to her the wedding and kids is just going through the motions. It’s the motions of what we’re supposed to do, right? I believe that you love her, but you’re hoping you can grow in that love, too, figure out what the hell we’re supposed to be doing.” 

Turning his head away and sinking back into his pillows, Link chuckles without humor, “How’d you get so smart in Slovakia?” 

For the first time since he got there, Rhett smiles, “Actually, I think I got dumber. But I’ve always known you.”

“Yeah, you have,” Link whispers.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rhett asks, one last time. 

Watery blue eyes wander over to meet green, a finality in them that makes Rhett’s chest tight. “I couldn’t do it while you were here. I wouldn’t have gone through with it.” The taller man has nothing to say to that, or more like he’s trying desperately not to let the beginnings of his confession slip from his lips, if only to demonstrate to Link that this isn’t a one-sided issue. But he spends too long swallowing down his words and Link says, “Will you be my best man?”

“Yeah,” Rhett croaks. Their eyes meet again and Rhett sees a trust there. Whatever the function of a best man traditionally is, Rhett doesn’t exactly know, but he knows his duty is going to be getting his best friend down the aisle. Even though Link didn’t answer the question earlier of if he would have gotten married while Rhett was gone, he knows the answer now. Just like he couldn’t go through with the proposal with Rhett here, he can’t go through with the marriage without Rhett. 

Link sits up and reaches out a hand to grasp Rhett’s. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. You need to get some sleep. Thanks, bo.”

“You’re welcome, bo,” Rhett whispers. They take one last look at each other and then he’s sneaking out the way he came. It’s the last late night visit like that between the two boys. It’s the last time the two men call each other “bo.”

Several months later, Rhett has gotten his best friend down the aisle. After handing him the ring, he claps him on the shoulder and says, “Congratulations, brother.” Link beams. The priest asks for any objections. Rhett’s standing behind his best friend at the altar when he knows with finality that he can’t do it. He can’t tell Link the truth. So bites his tongue.


End file.
